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Loading... Thames: Sacred Riverby Peter Ackroyd
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won't like
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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. As usual, Ackroyd takes his reader on a bit of a whirlwind, this time a tour of the Thames river from source to mouth. The first few sections dragged a bit, and I didn't find his usual riveting prose there, but the later sections were extremely interesting and sparkling with his typical energy. I zipped through this. It's never a daunting task to read one of Ackroyd's doorstopping nonfiction works, because they are such a delight, and so well written. I now know all I probably want or need to know about the river. (One downside: since this was a review copy, none of the many listed illustrations were included. Oh, how I would have loved to see those illustrations!) (  ) sansmerci | Sep 1, 2008 |  Ackroyd takes the reader on a long meander along London's river from source to Sea, taking in anecdotes, historical fact, fiction art, life and death along the way. Beautifully written and fantastically researched as with all his books and probably best read as a companion guide to Ackroyd's earlier bestseller "London: the Biography". The beauty of this book is there is no timeline, no set journey, we wander in and out of the Thames and in and out of history, both fact and fiction and so we can dip into the book wherever and whenever we please. Highly recommended - half a star knocked off because sometimes there is just *too* much information! (  ) ishtahar | Mar 10, 2008 | Long drawn out with tenuous links. Fairly dull for most of it. (  ) stveggy | Feb 19, 2008 |  no reviews | add a review
Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0701172843, Hardcover)The Thames displays the same qualities as London: The Biography: scholarship, wit, discursiveness, lovely descriptive writing, anecdotes, spirit of place and character. It is hugely enjoyable and sure to be another mammoth bestseller.The Thames is about the river from source to sea, from prehistoric times to the present, its flora and fauna, the paintings and photographs inspired by the Thames, its geology, smells and colours, its literature, laws, magic and myths, its architecture, trade and weather. The reader learns about the fishes that swim in the river and the boats that ply on its surface, about floods and tides, hauntings and suicides, miasmas and sewers, locks, weirs and embankments. Here is Shelley floating on the river under poetical beech trees, Hogarth getting roaring drunk on a boat trip to Gravesend, William Morris wondering whether the same Thames water flowed past his windows in Hammersmith as flowed past his house at Kelmscott, 100 miles upriver. Peter Ackroyd has a genius for digging out the most surprising and entertaining details, and for writing about them in the most magisterial prose. (retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:05 -0400) The first test round has been closed. Visit the Open Shelves Classification group for details. |
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